BEAUTY of the kind measured by wins, is only skin deep, and in the Jets’ case that’s pretty thin whenever it is suggested they aren’t as good as 6-3 implies.

But after three straight victories that have shown their hearts to be in the right place, perhaps so are the chips on their shoulders. It is already mid-November, the Meadowlands winds are picking up, and the fourth-best running game in the NFL appears completely suited for the chilled environs and four wins in the final seven games that likely would put the Jets in the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

Yesterday, in a 23-mph gust tunnel, Chiefs quarterback Trent Green was funneled almost back to Kansas by a pass rush increasingly blowing away any initial perceptions Herman Edwards doesn’t know what he’s doing. It was an exhilarating day to be either a hot dog wrapper or a John Abraham, knowing an opponent is behind and has to throw the football.

“That’s a great feeling,” said Abraham. “A green light for us to go.”

It changed from yellow last week at the Superdome. Almost suddenly, the second-year defensive end picked up where 4.5 sacks in his first six games in the NFL were rudely interrupted by a season-ending abdominal tear. Abraham had three sacks against the Saints, including one that sealed an eye-opening upset.

It seemed like a coming out party for a potentially dominating player, being thrown by himself. Abraham seemed to enjoy it so much, he tossed another one in yesterday’s 27-7 victory, blowing past and around Chief tackles John Tait and Marcus Spears like a man in a hurry not just to Green, but to greatness.

If you have been watching closely the last two Sundays, you have been in on the ground floor of what will be some relentless putting of quarterbacks to the floor. One of Abraham’s two sacks yesterday was statistically shared with Shaun Ellis, but that’s no big deal between friends, only to the quarterback being crushed between them.

Abraham is even quicker than Keyshawn Johnson to point a finger or Al Groh to beat the posse out of town. When the Chiefs tried to slow Abraham down by running the opposite way, he was chasing down Priest Holmes faster than Bill Parcells put Marvin Washington on a bus.

“As he gains more experience, he’ll get it in his mind how good he is and how he can take over a game,” said Ray Mickens. “Once he starts to like that, he’s going to be doing it all the time. He is going to be a Pro Bowler every year until he retires.”

If Vinnie Testaverde had to face Abraham every week, he probably would retire right now.

“I talked about him in training camp, how he reminds me of a Lawrence Taylor-type player,” said Testaverde.

The quarterback misses Keyshawn terribly. But the No. 1 draft pick that came back for him produced Abraham, who will be no less significant to the Jets for the next 10 years as Johnson would have been had he not followed his own greed to Tampa Bay and, so far, no Super Bowl berth there, either. Ultimately, the Jets traded him in for a guy who has a chance to be just as dominant, if on the other side of the ball.

“This is the game I want to play every week,” Abraham said. “I can’t fall back like I did earlier this year.

“I told my coaches I’m going to practice a little harder, and I have. At the beginning of the year, I was frustrated, wondering if what I was doing was right. Now, I’m just playing, not worrying about making mistakes.”

Or, comparisons, either. Edwards says Abraham reminds him of Derrick Brooks, and, soon there will be inevitable arguments against Michael Strahan. But at age 23, the Jet end says it’s nice hearing these things in one ear just before they go out the other.

“I know I haven’t done half the stuff they have, but I take it as compliment,” he said. “I don’t try to pressure myself.”

He saves that for the quarterback. The hurries are just as important as the sacks, the Jets’ three interceptions yesterday jacking up the NFL’s best plus-minus differential.

It’s a beautiful thing seeing a guy realizing just how good he can be. In fact, yesterday, it was about all the ugliness Trent Green could stand.